Ad Review: Ecco’s OOH Mall Advertising

Danish shoe retailer Ecco’s recent OOH mall advertising campaign focussed on a bold strategy to cut through the cluttered marketing environment that is the modern urban shopping centre.

The campaign, run by Ecco via the Bubble platform, saw life-size posters placed on elevator doors and entrances in Manchester’s Arndale mall. The artwork featured a young female model casually sat on a wall against a blue summer sky; her pink shoes standing out in contrast to the muted colours of the surrounding environment. Their slogan, “cool from every angle”, resonated with the effective use of the three dimensionality of the mall’s architecture.

The Ecco campaign stood out in three core ways:

Engagement

Much like the “door hanger” trick used by estate agents, placing ads where consumers have to interact with them in order to go about their daily shopping routines guarantees exposure. This is particularly relevant because many people “tune out” ads in the environment, especially where there is so much competition, not just from ads but also from nearby shop fronts.

Line of sight

Because doors are useful landmarks when navigating the built environment, the use of door posters ensures the Ecco ads have primacy in shoppers’ line of sight.

Depth

By integrating a 2D poster into the mall architecture, the poster is given a sense of depth, lending the featured model an arrestingly lifelike appearance, and increasing the visual impact of the ad.

The benefits of OOH mall advertising

Millions of consumers visit shopping malls every week, with half of visitors admitting to making spontaneous purchasing decisions every time they go shopping; generating an estimated £21.7 billion for the UK retail industry.
Getting ads in to malls is a crucial strategy for retail marketers, and Ecco have made striking inroads. And even those stoic shoppers who resist impulse buying are developing brand awareness via their exposure to marketing messages in the retail environment. A double win.

Connecting with consumers close to Point of Purchase

The Ecco posters deepened shoppers’ connection to the nearby store. The use of out-of-home advertising, particularly at point of purchase (P.O.P), is an increasing necessity in an era when fashion shopping is moving online. In today’s retail marketplace there’s a premium on standing out amongst the competition as brands compete for that crucial impulse-shopping sector. That’s not to say that good old fashioned brand building isn’t important too. A consumer may very well be inspired to make an online purchase in the future as the result of exposure to mall advertising, and shopping in the real world is unlikely to ever truly lose its appeal, so there’s everything to play for.

3 takeaway’s from the Ecco OOH mall advertising

Retail marketers will surely benefit from the key takeaways of an effective OOH campaign which…

1. Used mall posters to influence P.O.P decisions and build brand awareness

2. Made use of mall architecture to maximise impact and bring a 3D quality to a 2D poster

3. Ran with a slogan that referenced the physicality of the mall retail environment

For more on running effective retail advertising check out our post on 7 OOH targeting tips for retailers.